Artist Statement 

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My attraction to design binding came through a love of books and art, and a fascination with things mechanical.  Design binding is a process involving many steps using the simplest of materials: paper, including the book’s boards, leather and paste which is made of flour and water cooked together.  With these materials, bookbinders build books to be beautiful and structurally sound.  They must operate perfectly in their opening and closing and should feel pleasing in the hand.

I seek to create bindings that are beautiful works of art, while being mechanically and structurally as perfect as I can make them.  I like to think design and technical skill are inseparable to the whole; if a work is to be beautiful we should not have an conscious awareness of the execution.  When viewed, the focus should be on the design and not the craftsmanship, good or bad.

My foremost consideration in creating the covers is to have the design  incorporate the spirit of the text both aesthetically and structurally.  After carefully reading and researching the contents, image, and format of the book, I work to create a design that balances these elements.  I would like to have the design invite the reader inside.  My feeling for the book determines the design, and the design determines the method I choose to accomplish it. 

In recent years my work has evolved to incorporate seemingly disparate elements.  I am interested in books behaving, aesthetically and mechanically, in unexpected ways.  The quality of surprise gives the design playfulness and layers of interest. I do my own work; executing a design is often, in itself, a serious process requiring thoughtful research.  I consider the appreciation of the book an intimate experience and the binding as a final achievement in the creation of a beautiful book.